Remarkable season for Bombers Harris about being home, feeling whole

Andrew Harris says he feels whole.

Andrew Harris says he feels whole.

He’s living in his hometown after being away for much of six years, he’s around his nine-year-old daughter Hazel on a regular basis and he’s playing on the Canadian Football League team he grew up cheering for.

What could be better?

How about doing all that and putting together a season for the ages on the field with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and capping it with a major league award?

Harris, a 30-year-old Winnipegger, was named the CFL’s West Division nominee for most outstanding Canadian on Thursday. It’s an award he has never won before in his eight CFL seasons, but he’s a clear-cut favourite to do so this year, over Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli, on Nov. 23 at the Grey Cup in Ottawa.

“It’s been a great year in all aspects, off the field and on the field,” Harris said Thursday after his Blue Bombers practised for Sunday’s West Division semfiinal against the Edmonton Eskimos.

“I feel more at home, more whole, having my daughter and my family around. How I feel with these guys and the relationships I have on the team, it just makes coming to work every day a lot easier. I’m really enjoying myself and my teammates, and doing it at home, in front of a home crowd, is just the cherry on top.”

Harris had an historic season. He led the league in rushing yards with 1,035, receptions (105) and yards after the catch (660). He broke a record for catches by a running back that had stood for 32 years.

He had 857 receiving yards, the most any player in league history who also rushed for more than 1,000 yards. Toronto’s Robert Drummond had 840 yards rushing in 1997 to go along with 1,134 rushing yards.

It was the third time in his career that Harris went over 1,000 yards rushing and the first time he has been named the West Division nominee for the award. He easily could have been the Bombers most outstanding player nominee as well this year but lost out in a narrow vote to quarterback Matt Nichols.

“There’s been tons of great players,” Harris said. “I’ve had good seasons and there’s always been a (Jon) Cornish or a (Jerome) Messam or someone who’s had a great season.”

Harris moved away from Winnipeg after high school, to play for the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football League and started his career as a territorial exemption with the B.C. Lions.

He’s come a very long way since those days, when he would travel back and forth from Nanaimo to Vancouver to practice with both teams and play games for the Raiders.

“If I think back to 2009 when I was playing junior, to think I would someday be at this point right now … I just wanted to get on the field as a teamer or in any situation at all,” Harris said. “To be where I’m at now, it’s definitely a big accomplishment and definitely something I’m proud of.”

Even players who played with or against Harris over the year have seen something more special in his game this season. Receiver Weston Dressler, a 10-year CFL veteran, remembers joining the Bombers last season and thinking how well Harris would fit into a Paul LaPolice-coached offence.

“I played with Wes Cates my first couple of years in Saskatchewan and he reminds me a lot of Andrew as far as his versatility and the running game, blocking game and catching passes,” Dressler said. “I had that picture of that type of back when we had Andrew coming in last year.

“I always knew he was a good player but just to be able to work with him every day and see how smart he is, how he handles the blocking schemes within the protections, everything like that, it’s pretty special. He’s a special player.”

LaPolice and the Bombers clearly wanted to make Harris the focus of the offence and that has led to tremendous opportunity.

He was either handed or thrown the ball 294 times this season.

“That’s a lot of touches,” Dressler said. “That’s a guy we want touching the ball a lot and he’s been able to do it. He’s prepared himself for it. It’s fun working with him.”

Bombers coach Mike O’Shea played with Drummond in 1997 and believes this season from Harris is even more impressive. What captures O’Shea’s attention the most is the way Harris initiates contact and runs through tacklers.

“To be available for an entire season, playing like that?” O’Shea asked. “I love that kind of stuff. That’s good football.”

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